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CHAPTERTWO
jack
The doctor shotme a scathing look from behind her glasses.Dr.Sandoval was fifty and gave zero fucks about anything but her patients.I respected the hell out of her because she wasn’t scared to tell anyone in this town what she thought, including my aunt Raven, whom even I avoided pissing off.“Did I ask about cost, asshole?What can you tell me about her?”
I watched as an RN started prepping Nishia for the central line.“Other than her name, I have zero information on her.She was dumped at Sanctuary’s gates less than thirty minutes ago.From a quick exam, I determined she most likely has a broken nose, jaw, and ankle.Possibly her ribs too.She’s been raped, and from the fresh blood all over her thighs and…other areas, it wasn’t long ago.”
“She was just dumped?”Dr.Sandoval questioned with raised, graying brows.“Her abusers just dropped her at your door?”
“I’m aware it smells fishy, Doc.I’ll deal with the reasons why they tossed her at my gate like a bag of trash later.Right now, I’m more worried about what kind of head injury she sustained.She had a seizure right before the EMTs arrived.”
“We will examine her for any trafficking marks,” she assured me.“As well as have a rape kit done, which we will turn over to Sheriff Davis when he arrives.”
Nodding, I stood outside the trauma bay while the doctor returned to the nurses already taking care of Nishia.
“No tattoos to show she’s being trafficked,” one of the nurses said loud enough for me to hear.“But there’s this spot on the back of her left arm that looks bad.It’s red, has heat to it, and there is an obvious lump beneath the surface of the skin.”
Dr.Sandoval made a displeased noise and picked up a scalpel.Slicing Nishia’s arm made her whimper, but her eyes didn’t even flicker.
“Numb her up if you’re going to go exploring!”I snapped.
“Stay quiet, or go out to the waiting room until I get her stable,” she returned without lifting her attention from what she was doing.Picking up a pair of tweezers, she dug around in the opening she’d just made before pulling out what looked like a microchip.
“Turn this over to the sheriff as well,” she instructed the nurse, who was doing nothing but collecting evidence from Nishia’s body.Already, she’d cut all of Nishia’s fingernails and put them in an envelope.“Since we’ve got the central line in, let’s start her on fluids.I’ll do the rape kit now while we wait on radiology to get her X-rays and CT done.”
The curtain was drawn, and I started to scrub my fingers through my scruff when I realized my hands were still covered in Nishia’s blood.Seeing a sink behind the nurses station, I walked over to wash the crimson off my skin just as the sliding doors opened and Ben stomped in with my mother right behind him.
“Give me an update,” Mom commanded, her gray-streaked red hair in disarray.She had on pajama pants, what looked like one of my father’s white T-shirts, and a jacket.Briefly, her gaze flickered over my bare chest and then my shoeless feet.
Grabbing a few paper towels, I dried my hands as I gave her all the information I knew.By the time I was done, Dr.Sandoval pushed the curtain back and came out holding a plastic bag.“Rape kit is done.Poor girl was torn so badly I had to place a few stitches.”
While she gave her report to Ben, a tech wheeled Nishia out of the trauma bay.The guy barely got a few feet down the corridor before I was following him.I didn’t normally get so involved in this part of a victim’s care, but something in my gut wouldn’t allow me to let this girl out of my sight.Even when the curtain had been drawn while the doctor did the kit, I’d had a sensation like my skin was too tight over my muscles because my eyes weren’t on her.
I stayed with her while the CT scan was performed, standing just outside the door while the machine took the images needed of her from head to toe.X-rays were done—again, from head to toe.
As I followed the tech back to the ER, I heard Dr.Sandoval speaking to Ben and Mom.The results had already been sent to her, and they were discussing all the damage done to Nishia’s body.
“The ankle will need surgery to fix.I think she’s going to need a few screws to correct this break, but we need to get ortho’s opinion on that.Ribs are fractured in three places, but completely broken here and here,” she said, pointing to the screen the others were looking at.“There’s a fracture in her right wrist, here and here.Again, ortho needs to consult on that, as well as the jaw.It’s broken here, and she’s going to need it surgically repaired, which means it will be wired shut until it heals.”
“Bastards,” Mom hissed to herself as she balled her hands at her sides.
“All of these injuries are serious, of course, but the most worrisome is the skull fracture.That’s most likely why she had a seizure.”Dr.Sandoval squeezed her temples.“She’s got some bleeding, and I need neurology in here to consult on that.If it doesn’t stop on its own soon, we will have to go in.”
I continued to listen to the doctor as I waited for the tech to get the bed back into place, while a nurse bustled around getting Nishia hooked back up to all the monitors.The woman kept giving me nervous glances, but I stayed out of her way, so she couldn’t tell me to leave.Not that she would have.Like most people in Creswell Springs, the nurses did their best to avoid interacting with me as much as possible.
Once she was done, the nurse made a quick exit, and I moved closer to the bed.I had no idea how old Nishia was.From her small size, she could have been anywhere from fifteen to thirty.With all the damage done to her face, I had no way to determine whether she was a teen or a grown woman, but she’d been through a nightmare that some grown men wouldn’t be able to survive.
Picking up one of her small hands, I carefully wrapped my fingers around hers.“You’re safe now, little one,” I murmured.“Rest peacefully.I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
CHAPTERTHREE
nishia
My nightmare was never-ending.
Shadows all around me.
Scary shadows.
